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Capitol View®
Tom Scheck

McCollum in tax trouble?

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Roll Call (subscription required) is reporting that DFL Congresswoman Betty McCollum appears to owe taxes on her Washington D.C. home. The story focuses on several members of Congress who inadvertently received a property tax break intended for Washington D.C. residents. Here's the blurb on McCollum:

District officials also confirmed Thursday that Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum (Minn.), who purchased a Dupont Circle condominium in 2003, had received the homestead tax break but had similarly not applied for it.

District officials have previously stated that such mistakes are the likely result of a now-defunct policy of automatically applying the tax benefit to new homeowners based on the tax status of the previous owner.

McCollum will be removed from the program, but tax records have not been updated to reflect how much she will be billed in back taxes. According to tax records, the Minnesotan's home had been assessed at $253,000 but taxed at only $115,000.

Under the District's homestead program, a taxpayer who owns a home in the city and uses it as the principal residence receives a reduction of $67,500 on its assessed value, or a savings of $573.75 off the 2009 tax bill.

In addition, properties that qualify for the homestead deduction are also protected from considerable jumps in assessed value. The District caps those increases at 10 percent above the previous year's tax assessment. Individuals who do not qualify for the homestead program are taxed on the full value of the home.